Bond set for animal abuse suspects

BALDIN COUNTY, Ala. (WALA) - Roberta and Sharon Dueitt turned themselves in Friday morning at the Baldwin County Jail on felony animal cruelty charges.  This, after nearly 200 dogs and cats were found either dead or starving at the Purple Hearted Puppies animal shelter in Summerdale.

Thursday, over two dozen more dead animals were unearthed at the shelter and a Robertsdale home belonging to Roberta Dueitt was also searched.  Enough new evidence was found to constitute felony charges.

“With this going to a felony count, we can go in front of a judge for a bond hearing and set parameters such as; they can’t have any contact with domesticated animals…where there whereabouts are,” said Summerdale Police officer, Trent Dennis.  “She could set all types of parameters.”

Friday afternoon, Judge Michelle Thomason set those parameters at a bond hearing.  Each felony count carried a $2,500 bond and the misdemeanor charges a $5,00 dollar amount neither woman is allowed to be in possession of or own any animals.

“Twenty-eight years I’ve been wearing a uniform and I’ve never dealt with an animal cruelty case that was anything like this,” Dennis said.

The shelter on County Road 36 in Summerdale is now vacant and the signs are gone. 

The only indication that there was a shelter there was a small plastic road sign that is now serving as a beacon for help.  It is directing people to L. A. Bar-B-Que in Summerdale, which is accepting donations from the public on behalf of BARC, the Baldwin County Humane Society.  BARC has taken legal custody of the surviving animals and donations have been flowing in.

“We started taking cash donations and handing out receipts for BARC and within 15 minutes after they put it on their website, we had already collected $400 dollars,” said Amy Frazier, owner of L. A. Bar-B-Que.  “I mean, it’s amazing how the community just came together and started dropping things off for the animals.”

Blankets, pet food, cat litter and cash donations are all needed.  L. A. Bar-B-Que is accepting them at their location on Highway 59 Monday through Saturday from 8am to 8pm.

Many of the rescued animals will take weeks if not months to get better and donation sites like L. A. Bar-B-Que plan to continue to take your donations until the need has passed.

“We’ve had people coming over out of Florida bringing U-Hauls over here with dog food and cat food and we just want to thank not only Baldwin County, but all the counties throughout,” Frazier said.

Other donation sites include Pet Sense and Checkouts in Foley, Go Play Pets in Daphne and the BARC shelter in Fairhope.

BARC Contact Information